September 2010
4 posts
The capacity to feel human was lost.
From ‘Who Is An Addict?’, chapter 1, NABT:
“Higher mental and emotional functions, such as conscience and the ability to love, were sharply affected by our use of drugs. Living skills were reduced to the animal level. Our spirit was broken. The capacity to feel human was lost. This seems extreme, but many of us have been in this state of mind.”
Relapse is a sign that we have a reservation in...
From ‘Recovery and Relapse’, chapter 7, NABT:
“We are never forced into relapse. We are given a choice. Relapse is never an accident. Relapse is a sign we have a reservation in our program…”
“…Unless the illusions that we can continue to use or stop using on our own are shattered, we most certainly sign our own death warrant.
“For some reason,...
Cockiness is a red light indicator.
From ‘Recovery and Relapse’, chapter 7, NABT:
“We take the First Step. We admit that we are powerless over our addiction, that our lives have become unmanageable. Slowly things get better, and we start getting our confidence back. Our ego tells us that we can do it on our own. Things are getting better, and we think we really don’t need this program. Cockiness is a red...
We grow through pain in recovery.
From ‘More Will Be Revealed’, chapter 10, NABT:
“We grow through pain in recovery and often find that such a crisis is a gift, an opportunity to experience growth by living clean. Before recovery, we were unable to even conceive of the thought that problems brought gifts. This gift may be finding strength within ourselves or regaining the feelings of self-respect that we had...
May 2010
1 post
13 tags
Step One Visualization.
Imagine you are in a deep dark room, far, far underground. The smell of body odor, stale beer, urine and cigarettes is all around, but you see nothing, or perhaps only dim shapes. Notice how the sense that time has frozen? Notice how space feels like treacle, moving slowly around you?
You hear nothing but a persistent buzzing in your ears, a buzzing that cuts right through your body and makes it...
April 2010
29 posts
8 tags
The Actions of Step One
There’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that if you want a spiritual awakening through the 12 Steps, there’s nothing anybody can do to stop you from taking the actions that the steps indicate. The bad news is that you are unlikely to take the actions without the support of at least one other person.
Many sponsors and many sponsees slow the awakening down. Many...
5 tags
Contemplation.
Contemplation:
- from contemplati, orginally “to mark out a space for observation”.
- “com”, within, “templum”, area for observation.
Definitions of contemplation:
- A long and thoughtful observation.
- A calm, lengthy, intent consideration.
8 tags
Step One Actions, Exercise 3: Brain Change 101
By working Step One we are beginning to wake up. We wake up physically by stopping using drugs, people and addictive processes. We wake up emotionally by feeling pain and sharing it. We wake up to our unmanageability by talking about our mental suffering.
Now, none of these awakenings sound very inviting, does it?
Can anyone be blamed that they do not continue on to Step Two, when being awake...
Inspiration.
9 tags
Unmanageablility Is a Tool to Grow
Unmanageability is a tool. Through the work there are various points to which we return. Our condition of unmanageability is one of those points.
It doesn’t matter what you call unmanageability. Buddha called it dukkha. If you say it out loud - “CA CA” - you will hear what he’s talking about crap. Jesus called it “missing the mark”. We translate the word as...
Walk the Next Step.
All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.
- Julian of Norwich.
Step One Actions, Exercise 2: Applying the...
All the suggested things to do in Narcotics Anonymous are contained in the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text (NABT) in Chapter Five, entitled “What Can I Do?”
I want to say, for the benefit of new people, that if a recovery suggestion is in this chapter of the NABT, it is worth giving a try. If a recovery suggestion is NOT in chapter 5 of the NABT, you need to consider it carefully.
To...
Witness Beauty.
Beauty is a powerful form of healing.
The Four Kinds of Unmanageability, Part 3 of 3.
What does it mean to be unmanageable? It has to do with management. Management has to do with decision making, will-power. So does not having management mean lacking the power to make decisions?
This seems silly. We make decisions all the time. We brush our teeth, shower; we shake hands, talk with others; we hug and call on the phone. But if you examine most of these things, they are not...
Rest.
The Four Kinds of Unmanageability, Part 2 of 3.
Some 12 steppers arrogantly imagine that the process of awakening is unique to the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. The truth is, it’s universal. What’s unique is the step-by-step format. That’s why it’s so important to stay in the step you are in. Keep at that step until you have had a distinct inner experience of increasing aliveness or awakening.
The original working...
Sit
The Four Kinds of Unmanageability, Part 1.
There are four kinds of unmanageability. Some people would say there are four distinct paths of recovery, depending on the kind of unmanageability. This can be useful to some, but the clarity of the steps themselves is the most important thing.
If there is one solution to four questions, then there cannot be said to be four different problems. The four kinds of unmanageability I will describe are...
Stop.
Step One Actions, Exercise 1: How Do I Feel?
We cannot heal what we cannot feel. The word resentment means to “feel once again” - resentments mean feeling old feelings. Feeling old feelings blocks us from feeling new feelings. And if we cannot have new feelings, if we run the same old feeling again and again, we are living in a kind of dream. We are not awake.
Essential to recovery is an awakening of the feeling center, which...
5 tags
Sponsorship 101 and the Trusty Dictionary Method
Sponsorship, sponsoring, being a sponsee or sponsoree - these are value-laden terms. The definition of the words alone is debatable. The nature of the relationship is also much discussed.
The aim of these talks is to seek the heart in words - the meaning. The method we will now use to seek the heart of recovery will come in great use now, later on, and always.
This method was used by the first...
The First Step is An Awakening of the Spirit
Each step is an awakening of the spirit. You wait for it in others, look for it in others. You look for the light to come on.
Step one is a bitter awakening. If a person has come directly in touch with their addiction and survived to tell the tale they have had a spiritual experience. They have looked inside themselves and discovered the condition of their spirit.
So what if the condition of...
How to Experience Step One Directly
In order to have a direct experience of step one, you simply need to stop the addiction behavior.
Three things will happen.
1. Immediately your lack of power will become clear.
2. Immediately the pain of this lack will bring areas of disorder in your life to your awareness.
3. And immediately you will need to find a competent manager to deal with those areas - or else you will be forced to...
Guide to a Direct Experience of Step One
Step One - We admitted that we were powerless over addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable.
- The door into a step one experience is pain. Where does it hurt? Who else hurts like I hurt who I can share with?
- The path through step one is by systematically examining power. What have you got power to change. What haven’t you got power to change - where have all attempts to heal...
8 tags
Compassion Comes from Releasing Pain
Instructions:
The spirit is born out of acceptance.
Compassion comes from letting go of pain.
First, then, locate the source of the pain.
Live in that world for a long time.
Step One: we admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Were we ready to admit that we could not, under any means, change a thing about our condition? The answer to this...
8 tags
What is our message? Here is our message:
Anyone, anywhere, can get free of addiction.
Anyone, anywhere, can lose the desire to react compulsively and habitually.
Anyone, anywhere, any find a new way to live.
What is this new way to live?
It is different for everyone. But we can characterize it generally.
- It is a way of life characterized by individual creative freedom. So our style is therefore tolerant and loving of other...
5 tags
About the NABT 8YSTEM
What is 8YSTEM? It is a dynamic way of approaching, integrating and sharing the living experience of Being Awake.
So what is NABT? NABT stands for the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text.
What you now read here is a dynamic system of awakening which I call 8YSTEM which uses the NABT:
Who am I and why are you reading this?
First, Who am I: I am a 12-stepper, ACIMer and Hawkinsian.
Welcome to 8YSTEM NABT microblog. The message this microblog carries has transformed my life and the lives of millions. I am guided to share the work of 8YSTEM NABT with all who want it. Please be patient with me and with yourself; more will be revealed.
Every single person in the West knows of someone whose life has been forever changed...
7 tags
First post - the 8YSTEM microblog
This is my first post on tumblr. Welcome to the 8YSTEM microblog. I hope you enjoy reading my words very much, leave inspired comments, and share what you like best with others.
8YSTEM is a dynamic living system. It is concerned with what is true for you now, not what was true yesterday or tomorrow. 8YSTEM is therefore a gift of shared experience.